Bernie Sanders is getting help from some comedians who've started the "feel the Bern" campaign. This engages potential donors by engaging in that favourite pastime of Americans: doing something stupid on a posted video before donating to a cause, challenging others to do likewise. In this case, it's downing a spoonful of hotsauce. http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/feel-the-bern-challenge-bernie-sanders-1...

Diane Francis (Nat'l Post) wrote that Trump is "paving the way" for Sanders by his criticism of the Clintons. He even dares to say that

Hilary "created" ISIS. He also dares to criticise Israel and tells Israel supporters "I don't need your money". What he says about M&Ms (Mexicans and Muslims) is none of my business. Some Lefties, though, don't like Sanders because he's not a TRUE SOCIALIST!

Does Sanders have a better chance of defeating him than Clinton is what the Democratic primary voters have to start asking themselves now.

This is the U.S. It's hard for me to believe that a 75 year old Jewish self-described socialist with a Brooklyn accent from Vermont can win the presidency. Can you imagine how a scared Wall Street/corporate media would react? But Trump might be the one person he could beat.

Does Sanders have a better chance of defeating him than Clinton is what the Democratic primary voters have to start asking themselves now.

This is the U.S. It's hard for me to believe that a 75 year old Jewish self-described socialist with a Brooklyn accent from Vermont can win the presidency. Can you imagine how a scared Wall Street/corporate media would react? But Trump might be the one person he could beat.

I actually can imagine how the US oligarchy will react. Bernie if elected will be assassinated by a "Muslim" terrorist in a black ops scenario.

But then nearly half of Americans would start liking Muslim terrorists.

That is not what would happen. American right wingers would start burning down mosques and calling for Iran to be nuked no matter where the "terrorist" was actually from. You know like when mostly Saudi's attacked the twin towers and the people of Iraq and Afghanistan got murdered. The external is what leads to totalitarianism.

I hope he wins and I hope I am wrong but frankly I don't believe the US is a democracy at the federal level it is a plutocracy and those people will not go down without a fight.

Does Sanders have a better chance of defeating him than Clinton is what the Democratic primary voters have to start asking themselves now.

This is the U.S. It's hard for me to believe that a 75 year old Jewish self-described socialist with a Brooklyn accent from Vermont can win the presidency. Can you imagine how a scared Wall Street/corporate media would react? But Trump might be the one person he could beat.

Polling has shown that Sanders beats not only Trump but every other Republican prospect by a larger margin than Clinton. As for the socialist thing, Americans may say they don't like socialism, but Sanders has a way of explaining socialism that people think it makes sense. As for geography, I wonder what poor people in the Deep South and the Appalchians will do when faced with a Senator from rural New England versus a New York billionaire. And the truth is, Sanders has a greater chance of taking Republican votes ([url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwDY2rO9lWM]yes, Republicans like Sanders a great deal[/url]) such that in this clip, you can see Ann Coulter pleading with Lou Dobbs for the media to go easier on Clinton, so the Republicans have an easier opponent.

The red scare stuff is so bad that it is funny. They are attacking things Eugene Debs said in 1918? But Clinton's people made a big mistake in attacking Bernie for his age. She is 68, and er, patriarchy still reigns. She is most obviously facelifted and must have a hair stylist on every means of transport she takes. If she let her hair go grey and not be restyled to a millimetre of its life, she'd get the OLD insults 100 times more than Bernie does.

No, I'm not being ageist or sexist. I'm some years younger than Clinton and considerably younger than Sanders, but I'm far from young and have let my hair go grey. Just pointing out the sad reality of sexism and ageism, which always hits women far harder in public life, unless they are the Queen. Her team would be well advised to steer far away from that attack mode.

After reading this article I must admit to liking him even more. He has been speaking truth to power for a long time. I still remember my union in conjunction with other unions sending a boatload of things like trades tools to support the Sandinista government and movement.

Quote:

In 1985, he traveled to Managua to celebrate the rise to power of the Marxist-Leninist Sandinista government. He called it a “heroic revolution.” Undermining anti-communist US policy, Sanders denounced the Reagan administration’s backing of the Contra rebels in a letter to the Sandinistas.

His betrayal did not end there. Sanders lobbied the White House to stop the proxy war and even tried to broker a peace deal. He adopted Managua as a sister city and invited Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega to visit the US. He exalted Ortega as “an impressive guy,” while attacking President Reagan.

“The Sandinista government has more support among the Nicaraguan people — substantially more support — than Ronald Reagan has among the American people,” Sanders told Vermont government-access TV in 1985.

The BC Carpenters' Central America Solidarity Committee was formed by the trade unionists of the BC Provincial Council of Carpenters (the BC Carpenters' Union).

The non-profit Canada-Nicaragua Carpentry Training Centre in Estelé, Nicaragua, sometimes referred to as "the Carpenters' Project," was established in 1985 as a joint effort between the BC Provincial Council of Carpenters and the Carpenters’ Union of Nicaragua.

During the mid-1980s, groups of BC trade unionists travelled to Nicaragua. These trips were hosted by the Sandinista Trade Union Centre (CST), endorsed by the BC Federation of Labour, and arranged by the Trade Union Group of the BC-Nicaragua Solidarity Committee. These trips resulted in reports on the labour situation in Nicaragua titled "Hope Under Siege" and "Surviving the Siege."

This project was done in cooperation with CUSO, an independent international development agency, and was affiliated with "Tools for Peace," a Canadian organisation devoted to maintaining solidarity with and providing material support to the people of Nicaragua during the 1980s.

His message is clear and he never flip flops. He'd be the best thing to happen in America in my lifetime. Sadly,I see Donald Trump winning the GOP nomination. If Hilary is the Dem candidate,say hello to President Trump. Americans are too stupid to vote for a candidate that sincerely cares and will fight tooth and nail for your average Joe Public's best interests.

How anyone living an average income existance would vote Repugnican is a real mystery to me.

Sorry for the clumsy terms I (originally) used, but I think the point still stands. If people who aren't millionaires vote for the party of the millionaires, look to see if maybe there's a moral or emotional component that resonates with them more than "we'll screw you over financially".

It always amazes me that people can understand the immense influence that Madison Avemnue has in getting people to buy shit they don't need especially potentially harmful products but fail to see the obvious point that Americans are subjected to the biggest propoganda industry on the planet and it sells rule by plutocracy as freedom and democracy.

Whenever the subject of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and his economic plans come up, the Republican response is always the same. “SOCIALISM!” they cry, swiftly followed by hyperbolic imagery that invokes the bread lines of the Soviet Union and massive famines in China, entirely ignorant of the vast differences between democratic socialism and totalitarian communism – like their refusal to distinguish between “free market capitalism” and “unrestricted plutocracy.” It’s nothing but a fear-mongering campaign attempting to smear the sound and reasonable policies of democratic socialism that would strike at the very heart of American oligarchy, that would put a stop to the funneling of wealth to the top 1% of Americans and the overwhelming power of the gargantuan financial institutions of Wall Street.

It’s very ironic, because time and timeagain the data shows that collections of corporate handouts and subsidies for the ultrawealthy that the right tries to pass off as “tax plans” would be disastrous for both the American middle class and our economy as a whole. On the other hand, Bernie Sanders’ comprehensive financial reform plan has been endorsed by over 170 respected economists and financial analysts, who have gone as far as to sign a letter endorsing them as critical to the financial health of our nation:

"In our view, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ plan for comprehensive financial reform is critical for avoiding another “too-big-to-fail” financial crisis. The Senator is correct that the biggest banks must be broken up and that a new 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act, separating investment from commercial banking, must be enacted. Wall Street’s largest banks are now far bigger than they were before the crisis, and they still have every incentive to take excessive risks."....

It always amazes me that people can understand the immense influence that Madison Avemnue has in getting people to buy shit they don't need especially potentially harmful products but fail to see the obvious point that Americans are subjected to the biggest propoganda industry on the planet and it sells rule by plutocracy as freedom and democracy.

They are brain washed is the answer Magoo.

So, then if they're all brainwashed, do you absolve them of responsibility for how they vote? Because it seems to me that the word "brainwashed" is usually used to imply that the people so-described aren't making a free choice.

It always amazes me that people can understand the immense influence that Madison Avemnue has in getting people to buy shit they don't need especially potentially harmful products but fail to see the obvious point that Americans are subjected to the biggest propoganda industry on the planet and it sells rule by plutocracy as freedom and democracy.

They are brain washed is the answer Magoo.

So, then if they're all brainwashed, do you absolve them of responsibility for how they vote? Because it seems to me that the word "brainwashed" is usually used to imply that the people so-described aren't making a free choice.

Hard to say. Were the people who voted in Hitler after Goebels convinced them they should responsible for their choices? Are people who vote for politicians who deny climate change responsible for their own actions or not? Brainwashed has various subtle meanings like most English words.

No, I don't think they were brainwashed, but I'm willing to allow that a lot of them had incomplete acces to information, were previously disposed to prioritize certain issues over other ones, etc.

I mean, on the one end of the spectrum, you've got the American yelling "Goddam ay-rabs are gonna kill us all!! Better vote for someone who's gonna bomb 'em all back to the Stone Age!!".

Moving along, you've got the Canadian Liberal voter who says "Jessus, that Harper's a real warmonger. Justin says he's gonna end the bombings in Syria, and focus on training fighters on the ground. That sounds a lot more sensible". Without really thinking about what exactly "training fighters on the ground" means.

I think the first guy is what most people imagine when they think about the supposedly typical Nazi supporter. Rabid anti-semite, brainwashed into hating minority groups etc. But I'd be willing to bet that at least some of them were like the second guy as well.

Personally, I'd prefer the company of the Liberal "moderate" than the Republican ranter, although I wonder if that's a rationale taste. If you're standing before God to answer for your complicty in war crimes, is "Well, I never really questioned what 'training on the ground' meant" any more of a defense than "Well, I never really questioned my racist assumpations"?

Both Trump and Sanders are appealing to the protest vote but Trump has been much more successful in gathering the extremists and crazies. When Trump disintegrates, as he must for the R's to survive, Sanders stands a good chance in getting many of his supporters. It's just a question of whether or not it can happen in time to beat out Clinton. Currently, he appears to be at least holding close enough to even to keep his chances alive

And the reason why Canadians should have an interest in seeing Sanders success is because he is the only one that shows any inclination of being opposed to his country's further wars. Even though he can't be completely honest in that respect because it's not a popular platform in that country.

If not Sanders then it's a sure thing that we will see more US led wars in the ME and that means that the Iran nuclear deal will be abandoned in order to please the hawks and the Israeli demands. For Syria, it's going to be a crapshoot on whether Obama and Putin can hold the status quo long enough to see the next president improve on it or if not Sanders, see US bombing of Syria under a US hawk for president. Clinton included, if not one of the worst of their hawks.

It always amazes me that people can understand the immense influence that Madison Avemnue has in getting people to buy shit they don't need especially potentially harmful products but fail to see the obvious point that Americans are subjected to the biggest propoganda industry on the planet and it sells rule by plutocracy as freedom and democracy.

They are brain washed is the answer Magoo.

So, then if they're all brainwashed, do you absolve them of responsibility for how they vote? Because it seems to me that the word "brainwashed" is usually used to imply that the people so-described aren't making a free choice.

Hard to say. Were the people who voted in Hitler after Goebels convinced them they should responsible for their choices? Are people who vote for politicians who deny climate change responsible for their own actions or not? Brainwashed has various subtle meanings like most English words.

Yet any pleasure that she might have taken in finding her competitors, this time around, to be a seventy-four-year-old socialist and a tremulous former governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley, dissipated last week. At the time of the first debate, Clinton was eighteen points ahead of Sanders in the Real Clear Politics average of national polls, with forty-three per cent to his twenty-five. Now the gap has narrowed to eight points. In Iowa, which holds its caucus on February 1st, the two are trading off the lead in recent polls. In New Hampshire, which votes eight days later, Sanders is ahead by six per cent. He could win both races. Just as telling as the numbers is the enthusiasm level—the large crowds he attracts, the “Feel the Bern” buttons, the twitter love fed by a campaign organization that is tougher, more tightly run, and more tech-savvy than expected. Democratic voters under the age of forty-five prefer Sanders by a margin of about two to one, according to a new Times/CBS poll. Iowa and New Hampshire will be followed by Nevada and then by South Carolina and several states in the Deep South, where Clinton is expected to do well, thanks to the support of African-American voters. Still, last week Sanders told CBS that he thought Clinton’s campaign was getting “very, very nervous.”